We are excited to launch our latest study: Transformative Biodiversity Policy at a Stalemate: Consensus on ‘Age Old’ Problems, Coherent Pathway Forward Needed. The study builds on the first phase of our larger research project which demonstrates how governments—highly constrained by financial and political subordination to implement a just and ecological transition— are “Exporting Extinction.”
The second phase of our research engaged biodiversity policy-makers and advocates in focus group discussions on the findings of the Exporting Extinction report. Bringing together key actors from different sets of expertise and institutional bases, three core insights emerged from these sessions:
- Participants expressed a clear appetite for structural approaches to changing the political-economic “rules of the game”, namely international financial architecture reforms such as debt and tax justice, as well as trade and investment agreement reforms.
- While there was agreement on the importance of IFA reform, the majority of policy recommendations mentioned are rarely or never included in biodiversity policy debates.
- Despite an appetite for structural reform, participants did not hold a shared theory of change or strategy. The report characterizes the current moment as a stalemate, but it is a stalemate loaded with opportunities.
In a moment of fast-changing geo-political economic dynamics and uncertainties, pathways for intervention are emerging around the international financial architecture and beyond, but they require more organization, coordination, and focus if those changes are to be in line with diverse ecosystems and the realization of land, Indigenous, and human rights.
Read our latest, published in collaboration with Third World Network and the Climate and Community Institute study, now!
